Karachi tops in HR violation

ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The government informed the National Assembly on Thursday that Karachi topped in human rights violations committed in the country during 2008 followed by Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.

Human Rights Minister Syed Mumtaz Alam Gilani said that 5,140 cases of human rights violations were recoded in the country with Karachi at the top with 2,102 cases. A total of 1,695 such cases were recoded in Lahore, 715 in Peshawar and 628 in Quetta.

There were 690 cases directly reported to the ministry, according to the written reply to a question asked by Chaudhry Barjees Tahir.

The minister said that the information was based on press reports and complainants lodged with the ministry and related departments.

To a supplementary question, he said that lack of education and practising of certain traditions were the main causes of human rights violations in Sindh.

In Punjab, however, personnel of the law-enforcement agencies were found behind the rights violations committed in the province.

Responding to other parts of the question, the minister said that all the cases had been sent to relevant home departments, DPOs, RPOs and IGs for investigation.

He said that a National Human Rights Coordination Committee had been set up under the chairmanship of a minister and interior secretary and provincial ministers in-charge of human rights departments as its members.

Likewise, provincial ministers responsible for human rights are heading provincial human rights committees and they have been tasked to form such committees at the district level.

The National Assembly was informed that officials from the federal ministry and regional directorates visited prisons, hospitals and schools on a regular basis to get information about victims of human rights violations and chalk out plan for their redressal.